A family cooperates to an unbelievable degree.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Coronet Instructional Films
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Social guidance

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Marysz - - January 25, 2012
Subject: Dividing up the drudgery
A particularly innocent Coronet Film about household cooperation. Mrs. Taylor is sick and the house gets messy and disorganized since she's not there to clean up after her husband and children Howard and Martha. Martha gets an idea from her home economics book about splitting up the household chores. It works so well the family continues it even after Mrs. Taylor gets better. They even have time to redecorate. Their neighbor Mrs. Miller gives them some home decorating advice that unfortunately leads to Dad putting up some extremely ugly wallpaper with Howard's help. This is a refreshing film because it actually does question the idea of Mom getting stuck with all the housework.

Reviewer: doowopbob - - April 20, 2009
Subject: It's The Bunk....!
Utter Nonsense....!....I Grew Up In The 50's In A Suburb Of Boston & The Father Know's Best Approach Was Non-Existant....!....I Had To Keep My Room Clean & Mow The Lawn With A Push & Pull Non Engine Mower.........My A.M Paper Route Took From 4A.M. Till 6A.M.....After School It Was Baseball At Fallon Field....I Soon Gave That Up In Pursuit Of Getting Girl's In My Room And Getting Them Naked & On Their Knees......I Was Good At That....!....I Had Found My Life's Calling....!....It's Still A Work In Progress.

Reviewer: Retro Geek - - June 17, 2008
Subject: Hey Sis maybe we SHOULD get organized!
It's a very good thing that in 1949 ladies had a reference book to help them realize that general cleaning is much easier if each person picks up after themselves. Gee, really? Of course, it always helps to make yet another list so that we can be organized. Once again, we find the family referring to the book on page 231 to determine that the father works, the children are in school, and mom should do the housework. Thank goodness we worked that out! On the whole this movie is a must-see. Just check out that wallpaper! The neighborhood club will have to hang on to the furniture during their respective dizzy spells. One more thing, where can I find helpful, willing, enthusiastic, obedient, and industrious teenagers like the ones Coronet digs up?

Reviewer: ERD - - September 23, 2006
Subject: Positive Attitude
Some people can just complain and some people try to improve their situation. This family took a positive attitude in this 1949 movie- nothing wrong in that. How cynical some of the "modern" reviewers are.

Reviewer: silvertwinz - - September 21, 2006
Subject: slipcovers, chores and our family
wow!! this is so perky and cheerful i just want to die! nobody is this perky or helpful or agreeable. howard's voice sounds like he's yet to hit puberty. some families are actually like this. my husband's is just like this and it drives me up the wall. what if howard turned gay and mom was hitting the bottle and dad was a door to door salesman and martha was a tough street hood? sounds more like real life (snicker)

Reviewer: Spuzz - - September 11, 2004
Subject: "It's not all about Slipcovers and Wallpaper!"
The Taylor family, realizing that their homw is substandard, make a decision just like that to clean up their house. Because Mom has literally gone sick because of all the housework she has to do, Brother and Sis come up with a swell idea to help with the housework! Father likes it too! Soon, their all making, yes, a list to figure out what they can do to chip in. Soon, Son is fixing the lamp, Dad is wallpapering, and Sis is yes, making slipcovers! What a bunch of troopers! LOL

Reviewer: Steve Nordby - - November 9, 2003
Subject: All work and no play makes Howard something something
Happy boy Howard helps happy dad wallpaper while happy teen sis helps happy Mom make the happy boys lunch. This happy, polite and cooperative family owes this bliss to sis's authoritative Home Economics textbook. Plan and organize housework and you will be happy! Oh Dad does contribute his idea: share the work by time available and ability (sounds sort of communist to me). And when sis worries that the silver won't get polished, brother steps in with a solution: use all your spare time to do all the odd jobs around the house! Now that's family fun!

Shotlist

Shows the importance of co-operation in maintaining a happy family life.
Ken Smith sez: The Taylor family -- Mom, Dad, Howard and Martha -- live in a messy house and, what's worse, they don't seem to care. But Martha has culled some modern ideas from her home economics textbook and the Taylor renaissance is about to begin. "General housekeeping is made much easier if each person picks up after himself," Martha reads to Howard; he thinks for a moment and responds, "Hey, sis...maybe we should get organized!" As anyone familiar with postwar Coronet films knows, "get organized" is an unresistable rallying cry. Soon, the Taylors are making neat, handwritten lists for everything, and smiling so broadly that it must hurt. "Here! It's all organized!" cries Howard as he holds aloft yet another list. "That's the idea! Each of us picks up after himself!" echoes Dad. In less time than it takes to pull a tally sheet out of the Job Jar, the Taylors have become "a far happier and better family." "This is more than just a story of wallpaper and slipcovers," the narrator proclaims. "It's a story of improvement in the Taylors themselves!"

WORK CHORES HOME FAMILIES HELP HOUSEWORK COOPERATION LISTS WRITING TEENAGERS MOMS DADS PARENTS CLEANLINESS MESSINESS HOME ECONOMICS
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